Superior Sales: A Little Praise Goes a Long Way

The old saying goes, ‘You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.’ In the same vein, you can maximize sales and drive loyalty by giving customers honey in the form of praise.

Although I was in charge of hiring employees at my old company, my father had given a job to the son of a friend he owed a favor to. The boy, Bobby, was 19 but not physically strong enough to handle the work we needed done. Bobby was one of those needy people. He did not have a driver’s license so we picked him up and took him home. He did not have work clothes, so we provided uniforms. He could only work certain hours, so we arranged our schedule for him.

One day he said he was quitting to go to work at the truck stop, where he received less pay, fewer benefits and had to hitchhike to work. When I asked him why he said, “They are making me the assistant to the supervisor of diesel fuel pump four.” The truck stop used titles as praise.

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